Smart Thoughts!

What better way to start a blog called “Smart Thoughts” than with a reflection on humility?!

Humility is a virtue, but it is one that is commonly misunderstood. We’ve all heard jokes about writing a book called Humility and How I Attained It. Most humor is based on irony, and we find this imaginary book title humorous because of the perceived irony that one can’t be humble and know it. After all, we’ve often heard it said that “once you think you’ve found humility, you’ve lost it.” However, I think this misses the point about what humility really is.

Now, to be sure, the apostle Paul said, “Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us” (Romans 12:3 NLT). Paul is saying that we should not have too high an opinion of ourselves. But notice that he is not saying that we should therefore have too low an opinion of ourselves! His standard of measure is truth (“Be honest . . .”), not some distorted idea of humility.

If God has given us certain gifts (and that is what the context of Romans 12 is about), is it honest to “humbly” deny them? Does it honor the Giver to denigrate the gift? Conversely, doesn’t it rather honor God to acknowledge both the Giver and the gift? I will illustrate with my own case.

Judging by consistent feedback that I’ve gotten over the years from those whom I have taught, I am an excellent Bible Teacher. How can I say that and, at the same time, be humble? Simple . . . I acknowledge this ability as a gift of God. I have nothing that I have not been given. I can take no credit for it. Nevertheless, I can (and should) humbly acknowledge it. To do otherwise is to discredit the Giver. It is true that I could dishonor God by proudly taking credit for the gift. But “humbly” failing to acknowledge it amounts to the same thing!

In the next post, I will dig a little deeper into the true nature of humility and how you really can know when you’ve attained it! Stay tuned.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 4th, 2014 at 8:50 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.